Will it go to a woman this time?

[Dave Monroe]

Nobel Literature Prize: Will it go to a woman this
time?

STOCKHOLM, Oct 3 (AFP) - Women writers, long
overlooked by the Swedish Academy which each year
awards the Nobel Literature Prize, could be
well-placed to take home the honours this year,
observers said, citing Algeria's Assia Djebar, Joyce
Carol Oates of the United States and Dane Inger
Christensen as potential winners. 

Among the usual suspects whose names have surfaced
year after year are US novelist Philip Roth, Albania's
Ismael Kadare, Czech author Milan Kundera,
Syrian-Lebanese poet Adonis and Swedish poet Tomas
Transtroemer. 

All of them worthy men, no doubt, but perhaps not what
the Nobel committee is looking for this year. 

"In Stockholm there has been a lot of talk, and it has
intensified this year, that there are so few women who
have won the prize," Svante Weyler, chief editor at
Norstedts, one of Sweden's biggest publishing houses,
told AFP. 

The Academy has honoured only nine women since the
prize was first handed out in 1901. Most recently, it
went to Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska in 1996. 

Before her, there was African-American writer Toni
Morrison in 1993 and South African novelist Nadine
Gordimer in 1991, but before that you have to go all
the way back to 1966, when Nelly Sachs of Sweden won. 

While the Academy is as tight-lipped as ever about
this year's laureate, Stockholm's literary circles are
abuzz with speculation as the clock ticks down towards
the big announcement, expected either this Thursday or
the next. 

Among those also mentioned as possible winners are
poetesses Friederike Mayroecker of Austria and Vizma
Belsevica of Latvia, Russian poet Gennady Aygi,
Spanish author Alvaro Pombo, Hungarian novelists Peter
Esterhazy and Peter Nadas, Somalian writer Nuruddin
Farah and an old favourite, Canadian writer Margaret
Atwood 

Last year, the honours went to J.M. Coetzee of South
Africa, and the year before to Hungary's Imre Kertesz.


"If the past two winners had not been so unanimously
accepted then the subject (of the prize going to a
woman) would have come up much sooner," Weyler said. 

He said he believed the Academy was "sensitive" to
public opinion, and said he could see the prize going
to Inger Christensen. "She's one of Europe's leading
lyricists whose name has been mentioned many times." 

She could however be precluded from the Nobel after
having won the Swedish Academy's Nordic Authors' Prize
in 1994, often seen as the "little Nobel" for the
region's writers. 

Jonas Thente, literary critic for Sweden's largest
daily Dagens Nyheter, said he was putting his money on
Algerian novelist, poet and filmmaker Assia Djebar,
whose books deal with post-colonial identity issues. 

French philosopher-writer Jacques Derrida was also
seen as a possible winner of the 10-million-kronor
(1.37-million-dollar, 1.10-million-euro) prize. 

"He is one of the biggest names in
post-structuralism," Thente said. "And Academy
secretary Horace Engdahl and member Katarina
Frostenson are known to be big fans of his." 

Dutch-language authors Cees Nooteboom and Hugo Claus
have long been mentioned as possible laureates, as has
Peruvian writer Mario Varga Llosa. 

But Weyler suggested they had probably been taken off
the short list. 

"Their names have been mentioned for so long and
they've never won, so the Academy has probably been
unable to reach unanimity and dropped their names," he
said. 

Thente said he would like to see "the great American
postmodernist authors Don DeLillo or Thomas Pynchon"
take home the prestigious award, but Weyler said he
didn't think they had a chance. 

"They are great epic writers, but they are considered
very mainstream. They're not very experimental,
pushing the boundaries of literature," he said. 

Weyler said German poet and essayist Hans Magnus
Enzensberger was however one such writer. "He's a
totally genius author, very erudite, and he moves the
boundaries all the time." 

He said the Academy liked to put the spotlight on
lesser-known writers. 

"They are very good at lifting up those writers who
are known to the literary crowd but that ought to be
known to a broader audience," Weyler said. 

Meanwhile, Scandinavia's largest bookstore,
Akademibokhandeln in Stockholm, said it was busily
preparing for the big announcement, preparing a
special table displaying potential winners -- and
hoping for Joyce Carol Oates. 

"She's our favourite here," assistant manager Agneta
Lind said. 

And for the gambling crowd, Adonis is the given
winner. Online betting site Ladbrokes gives the poet
six-to-four odds, edging out Joyce Carol Oates with
nine-to-four odds and Tomas Transtroemer with
four-to-one odds. 

http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=29389

Ladbrokes

http://www.ladbrokes.com/lbr_portal

http://www.ladbrokes.com/lbr_sports?action=go_generic_link&level=TYPE&key=210002844


		
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